Friday Five~Fireworks edition

1. Barbeques or picnics ( or are they essentially the same thing?)

Barbeque is a type of food (you know, meat with some kind of sauce--and I know lots of people who would debate on the CORRECT meat and the CORRECT sauce--but maybe that's a southern thing. When I ate meat I was in the 'pulled pork with a vinegar based sauce' camp). Eating barbeque may involve cooking out, but often it means going to a bbq joint-- one of those out of the way places that specializes in barbeque, cole slaw and maybe corn on the cob, with lots of iced tea.

Picnic is an activity :) When I was a kid and my family went on a picnic it was a Big Deal--fried chicken, potato salad, deviled eggs, and some kind of homemade dessert were always on the menu. It was a lot of work for my mother. For me, it would more likely be sandwiches, chips and drinks all hurriedly assembled. Picnics shouldn't be too much work.

Either one would be appropriate for July 4th.

2. The park/ the lake/ the beach or staying at home simply being?

Today I'm just staying home, doing my regular day off stuff. Some of my favorite 4ths were spent at the beach when my kids were little. I'm not much for big patriotic displays, so just being is okay with me.

3. Fireworks- love 'em or hate 'em?

I love fireworks displays--the bigger the better. I especially love them over the lake in Vermont. But one of my fondest fireworks memories is not of July 4th but rather the displays set off on New Year's Eve in Iceland when I lived there.

Fireworks in my area are actually tomorrow night--don't know if I'll get to see them or not.

I don't really like fireworks that people set off on their own. It's illegal here, but down south there were big fireworks stores all over the place, and firecrackers and what not would be going off all night long, making it hard for children and dogs to sleep. Not so fun. To say nothing of dangerous.

4. Parades- have you ever taken part- share a memory...

I have a vague memory of going to a big parade when I was 10 or 11 but I don't think I was actually in it. And that may be the only Fourth of July parade I've ever been to.

5. Time for a musical interlude- if you could sum up holidays in a piece of music what would it be?

The 1812 Overture.






~Pix from my archives~~July 2006